Aulis
placeAulis was the harbour in Boeotia where the Greek fleet of over a thousand ships assembled before sailing to Troy — and where Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to gain favourable winds.
The Myth
The entire Greek armada gathered at Aulis, but contrary winds sent by Artemis kept the fleet trapped in harbour. The seer Calchas revealed that Agamemnon had offended Artemis by killing a deer in her sacred grove and boasting he was a better hunter than the goddess. The only remedy was the sacrifice of his eldest daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon lured her to Aulis under the pretence of marriage to Achilles. In some versions she was sacrificed; in others, Artemis substituted a deer at the last moment and spirited her away to Tauris. The sacrifice haunted the house of Atreus — Clytemnestra never forgave her husband and murdered him upon his return from Troy.
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Fun Fact
Euripides' play Iphigenia at Aulis, written in 406 BC, remains one of the most performed Greek tragedies — its moral dilemma still resonates.